Gossip

6,000 people hold a protest against Fuji TV

On August 21st, 6,000 people gathered at Oumi-Kita Futou Park in Odaiba for a protest against broadcast network Fuji TV. There was a big round of applause when the organizer shouted through the microphone, "I am thankful that many people gathered together."

The media, including reporters from the Korean TV station SBS also visited the scene. Reporters from SBS showed anxiety as they said, "We are concerned about this movement."

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A little after 1:30 PM, the protesters started walking towards Fuji TV headquarters. They called out simple messages saying, "Fuji TV shouldn't force Hallyu on us!" and "We don't want to watch Korean dramas!". This protest began after actor Takaoka Sosuke made remarks criticizing the growing Korean boom in entertainment. These citizens first took action on August 7th, when 2,500 people gathered in Odaiba and raised their voices saying, "Stop the Hallyu". For that time, it was considered a 'walk' because it wasn't an authorized protest. Later, the organizers uploaded a permit from the Tokyo Metropolitan Public Safety Commission onto the internet, and emphasized the validity of the protest, encouraging other people to join.

The demo had multiple live streamings on Ustream, which drew tens of thousands of viewers just before the event. On Twitter, people wrote, "I honestly didn't think it would become this big," while others tweeted information about the 'demo supporters'.

The crowd heated up once they reached Fuji TV. They tried to appeal to the passer-byers, saying, "We are against biased reports." When the head of the group reached their destination at around 2:15 PM, there was still a long line behind them, and they continued to march without interruptions for over an hour.

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J-CAST News interviewed one of the representatives of the protest, who showed their astonishment at the large turnout. "We thought it would be a success if 1,000 people got together. We didn't think we would gain so much sympathy from others." They continued to explain, "The demo is a protest against Fuji's biased reports, and how they're pushing Hallyu onto us. It is not a claim of anti-Korea sentiments or hate towards Korea."

Before the demo, the organizers tried to send a written protest to Fuji TV regarding these bias reports. However, once they got in contact with Fuji TV, the network rejected the written statement, saying, "There are no reasons for a protest." The representative of the organizers said, "We will put this on the internet as an open letter in the upcoming days."

There are no plans for a next protest, as the committee will be disbanded. The representative hopes that "With this, Fuji TV will change."